"No," Xaiden breathed. He gently lowered Lenna back to the rock and began using his weight to push his hands against her heart, determined to bring her back. He didn't notice when his muscles began to ache or when his breathing became panting. Time became of no relevance to him. There was no telling how long he'd been trying to restart her heart when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.
He ignored it and carried on with the task at hand.
"Xaiden," he heard a voice say. He ignored that, too.
"Xaiden, she's gone."
It took a moment for these words to sink in and, once he retained them, he spun on their speaker. "I won't let her go like this!" he yelled.
He could see the pity in the woman's eyes as she looked down at him, could see her own grief trying to hide behind it.
"You have to be able to do something," he said. "How did you do it last time?"
The woman's lips went tight. "I didn't. His Majesty did."
Xaiden swallowed. "There must be something you can do. Please, at least try!" He ignored the moisture that collected at the bottom of his eyes as they bored into the woman's, pleading.
Finally, she let out a decisive breath. "Step aside," she said. "There's no telling whether I'll be able to close them or not. Last time, the witch left a barrier I was unable to get around."
"But she's dead now," Xaiden said, gratefully backing away, giving her room to work. "Won't that make a difference?"
The woman shook her head. "Not always." She held her hands over Lenna's wound and closed her eyes. Xaiden watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed deeply, concentrating her focus.
Xaiden couldn't keep still, his fingers fidgeting nervously as he watched for what felt like forever. He looked up at the woman to see her eyes squeezed shut, her brow furrowed, almost as if she was in pain.
"What's happening?"
The woman didn't respond.
Watching the expressions that crossed the woman's face, mixing between pain and exhaustion, Xaiden tensed up and began to feel his heart in his throat. It wasn't until the woman fell away from Lenna, barely catching herself with her hands, that he realized he hadn't been breathing.
"Go back to what you were doing," the woman gasped.
"Are you alright?"
The woman waved her hand at Lenna insistently, so Xaiden turned back to her. He checked her pulse to find nothing, so he went back to pounding away at her heart. After countless pumps, he heard the woman gasp for breath behind him and put his lips on Lenna's, breathing into her mouth. He put his hands on his chest to go back to working her heart when she sucked in a huge breath of air.
"Lenna!" he said in excitement. "Lenna, are you alright?" he pushed her hair out of her face and peered into her eyes for the instant they fluttered open only to watch them close again. He checked her pulse to find a stead heartbeat. He put his hand by her nose to find her breathing.
"She's alive," he said, turning to thank the woman who had closed her wounds to find her lying on the rock behind him, her shirt doused in blood. His smile quickly faded away and he checked her pulse and breathing. Both were fine.
"I'm sorry about this, My Lady," he said, tearing at the neckline of her high necked dress to check her chest. He wiped the blood away with his hand to find no wound.
His own exhaustion sneaking up on him, he laid back, taking deep breaths, and went to sleep.